


Gingerbread Contest

by jaimistoryteller



Series: 2017 - 31 Days of Bond Flash Fics [11]
Category: GoldenEye (1995), James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-14 20:17:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13015356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaimistoryteller/pseuds/jaimistoryteller
Summary: It was only supposed to be for the various Q-Branch minions but managed to end up involving all of Six





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt:** gingerbread
> 
> It was supposed to be a flash fic, not massive gingerbread contest, but there you have it, enjoy!

Q’s POV

When he told the minions that they could compete to see who makes the best gingerbread items, he hadn’t expected the other departments to want to get involved with it as well. Originally he was only judging the departments covered by Q-Branch. Now he gets to judge all of them. There are people from every single one between the two buildings setting up in the dining hall he declared it would be held in.

Worse of all, M seems to think it’s a great idea to have a massive competition. Something about all of the departments needing to bond since recent events and the fact they are between two buildings seems to cause a bit of a divide. Apparently he’s either ignoring or totally forgetting that there is going to be a lot of people trying for the top. On the plus side, as soon as it became so widespread, Finance offered up a reward for the department or sub-department that wins.

They set a few simple rules when it spread to include so many people. One – each department gets to exhibit three gingerbread items. Two – no intentionally sabotaging the other departments, which was mostly for the Double-O’s but figured safe than sorry make it for everyone. Three – no attempting to bribe him. Four – the table has to say what department it belongs to. That’s it, the only rules. Hopefully everyone follows them. Although he did come up with creative punishments if they aren’t followed.

“This is insane,” he mutters as he steps into the dining hall being used. There are people everywhere.

Each department and sub-department was given a table to display their gingerbread creations. Most of which still have people buzzing around theirs to put on the finishing touches before this evenings voting.

“Remind me again why I’m the judge rather than you?” He queries when Mallory stops beside him.

M smirks, answering dryly, “They like you better.”

“Right, that doesn’t seem like a good reason to me,” he retorts with a snicker.

“You’re the one who started it down in Q-Branch?” Eve offers as she appears on his other side.

Snorting, “Yes, for my departments within the branch, I wasn’t planning on opening it up to all of Six.”

She grins mischievously, heading towards the table that is currently being worked on by some of the other admin assistants.

“Think of it this way, practice for the future,” M suggests before drifting away to look at the entries.

“That sounded ominous,” James remarks, stopping beside him. Calloused fingers curl around his palm, lightly stroking the back of his hand.

“No, that wasn’t ominous,” Alec denies as he takes hold of the other hand. “Q would make an excellent M. He’s got the organization and bossiness for it.”

Sighing, he tries not to laugh, pretty sure it would be hysterical laughter if he did. “What are you two up to? If you think I am showing the Double-O’s favoritism because of you living with me, you are sorely mistaken.”

Both step partly in front of him, without letting go of his hands.

“We’d never,” James denies, blue eyes gleaming.

“I’m hurt you’d think that of us,” Alec pouts, ruining the effect with the hints of a smirk.

“Well,” he drawls teasingly, “You lot are troublesome even when behaving, can’t blame me for being skeptical.”

“Q, the head of Finance Department wants a word before the judging starts,” R informs him, shoving his significant others out of the way like dealing with unruly children.

“Make sure they don’t cause any more mischief than normal,” he tells her before kissing the back of each hand and letting go, pulling his free of them. The Finance Department probably wants to go over the rewards one more time.

He chuckles at his pair as they turn their charm on his assistant. Not that that’s going to work. She prefers women in all regards, and finds their attempts at flirting amusing.

“What can I do for you?” he asks Mitchell Elias as he stops beside the older man, studying the stressed out head of Finance.

Sure enough, the older man wanted to confirm the rewards and the cost of running this, feeling a bit relieved if his expression is anything to go by that the money at least within his department was from the slush fund that the employees contribute to for special events and projects that might be beyond the normal costs allowable.

When he is done speaking with Elias, he picks a corner, draws his tablet out of his pocket and sends off a company wide email informing them that he will officially start the judging in fifteen minutes.

That seems to send a flurry of activity through the room as they make final adjustments to their gingerbread products.

Right then, he will start with the table in the corner and work his way to the end of the row before moving on to the next one. He tried to assign tables by department but he knows it didn’t completely work as some traded tables.

As soon as the bell starts ringing, it means it’s time for him to start judging and there seems to be a flood of people taking the spots near their table but leaving him room to come in. taking a deep breath, he opens the program he is using to record the scores, and if he did the programming right, it’s not going to be easily hacked into and tampered with.

The first table belongs to R&D. instead of doing three different gingerbread items, the team worked together to do an elaborate model of their branch. Each room is carefully detailed and designed using gingerbread and a wide variety of candies. He chuckles at the red liquorish warning signs over the little gingerbread doors. He’s still smiling as he enters the scores based on creativity, design, and originality into the program.

The second table is the Runners, those who carry the information and items that cannot be dealt with digitally where they need to go. They selected to do three. A car, much like the last one he built for 003 in complete detail. A helicopter like the one used for under the radar missions, sleek and silent, each button on the control panel carefully recreated with treats. And a speed boat, with a much more creative design than one would expect. He smiles at the representative for the Runners, enters the score and moves on.

Why the Double-O’s decided to put themselves in the middle of his departments tables, he doesn’t know. Despite the limited space, every single agent in the unit that’s not currently deployed in the field is fanned around their table. Most of them have shit eating grins. He understands why as they step sideways and he finds three different versions of him. Why in the hell did they do that? At least they are only of him in his various jumpers and not worse than that. The care shown in the design makes him want to shake his head in exasperation. He’d bet his significant others are to blame. Entering the score, he continues on to the next table without telling them how they did.

The Analysts made a series of gingerbread flow charts and graphs. He recognizes the middle graph for the amount of explosions caused by the various agents in the last year.  Each agent has their own candy color and counter for different types of explosions caused. The blue and green salt water taffy pieces represent his significant others if he’s not mistaken, based on the original graph, and they definitely are in the lead for who is the most destructive agents in the bunch.

“That’s great,” he tells them as he inputs their scores.

The Q-Branch Inventory staff created a complex gingerbread village with houses, businesses and people. As he studies it closer, he realizes they made it as a village of Six. As if each department has its own little business, homes and people for it. He loves the colors and candies used to create the entire thing. It’s his favorite so far, though there are still many to go. He grins at them as he enters their score into the program and moves on.

The Forgers make him chuckle as he studies their table of gingerbread documentation. All of it is made to look like real pieces. There are passports, identification, titles and random pieces of paper. He recognizes one piece from every single forger in the group.

Jokingly, he queries, “It’s only supposed to be three entries.”

The head of the department looks at him very seriously and replies, “It is a single entry. We each showcased our skills to show the collective ability of our department.”

He nods in understanding. “Very true,” he agrees. He adds their scores to the program and moves on to the last from his branch.

The Handlers made a collection of communication devices from gingerbread. There is a series of phones and pagers, a gingerbread computer with an example IM on the screen, letters and cards, a gingerbread tablet, bluetooth headsets and special glasses. Even a miniature camera system and satellite. All of it is things useful to their department and their goals of communicating with the agents and other members of the branches. He’s designed some of the updates he can see examples of on the table and approved some of the other ones for testing.

He adds their score before moving on to the next set, which is the beginning of the Administration set. Human Resources apparently decided to go with a winter holidays theme as they have a complete gingerbread tree with decorations and presents, there is a Menorah, a gingerbread scroll with an Farsi poem on it, and a Yule log with small flames. He’s rather happy to see that some of the different cultures that work within Six displayed.

He takes a picture of the scroll so he can read it later, since he enjoys the poetry that Soheila writes.

“Quite lovely,” he tells them as he enters the scores for them.

The Administration Assistants teamed up to make a complex gingerbread castle. He loves all the details they put into it, including using the frosting to make various frosty designs on the gingerbread windows. He can definitely see Eve’s influence on it, particularly with the geometric designs built into each piece. He adds their score into the program and continues on his way.

The next several pass in a flash, none of them standing out particularly to him, as if Press Relations, Payroll and Disbursements didn’t actually work together to come up with presentations. They’re all very kit like, with next to nothing original about them. He’s not actually sure why they decided to participate if they didn’t want to showcase their creativity.

Budgeting decided to make their gingerbread creations into three scroll like lists. First is a naughty list, which he notices a lot of Q-Branch and the Double-O’s are on. The second is a good list, which has a lot of the other agents, administration and some of the other departments. The neutral list has medical and the remaining departments on it. He’s not surprised to see them on the naughty list. Particularly after James, Alec, and Daya destroyed several different extremely expensive cars in various ways. He grins at the head of the department as he enters the scores in.

Accounting was not to be out done as they made gingerbread towers of a very similar nature. Only instead of naughty or nice, theirs is detailed accounting of various things created or destroyed with names of those who did it. He’s moderately certain that it was used as a means of stress relief. They get extra points just for the balls of doing it so publically when everyone knows accounting gets screwed over a lot because most the agents and some of the R&D teams from both Q-Branch and Medical can’t seem to understand the thing called financial responsibility.

The Trainees made a bunch of gingerbread people and decorated them like the various Double-O’s, agents, and Q-Branch staff they’ve had to deal with. He finds his gingerbread rather amusing as it seems to be flanked by his significant other’s gingerbread men. He’d like to say he’s surprised, but practically everyone in Six knows. A side effect of the betting pool that was going around about which would he choice, then he picked both so only Eve and R won anything as the only two to know he refused to choose between them. Of course he gives them extra points for it when he enters their scores.

The Agents picked three buildings to replicate. It takes him a minute to place them. The first is the Taj Mahal with white frosting used to make it gleam and appear close to accurate. The second is Saint Basil’s Cathedral, made to look as close to the original as possible using a variety of candies. The third is the El Castillo pyramid designed to match as closely as possible to the real thing. It’s rather creative, the way they decided to do three famous buildings from elsewhere in the world in such details.

“That’s wonderful,” he states as he inputs their scores.

The Trainers made a complete obstacles course with things to go over, under through, shoot at and blow up. It’s the first time he’s seen a gingerbread design quite like it and it gives him a few ideas for the training course he has in the lower levels to test out products. He gives them extra points just for that as he inputs their score.

The Recruiters, Medical Inventory, and Records all pass in a flash with nothing remarkable about theirs. It’s almost as if they started and decided that it wasn’t good enough and gave up the project without doing anything further on it. Which is sort of sad, they could have had such wonderful ideas.

He finds Psych’s massive gingerbread cookie with frosting and candies pressed into it to make a dreamscape of animals and scenery. It’ actually rather lovely, far more than he would have expected but it isn’t surprising. Those who work in Psych work with the minds of most of the agency. Of course they could come up with something unique and creative. It gives them a bit of a boost when he scores them.

The Nursing staff went with more of a Christmas and winter feel. They have Santa Claus, reindeer, various Christmas trees that are fully decorated, a little ice skating rink with people on it, elves, and so much more. While it’s not all that original, they had paid a lot of attention to details. He compliments them on the details as he adds their scores to the file.

The Doctors apparently went a bit insane. They have a rather unique gingerbread castle. It looks like a combination of Victorian, Japanese, and Polish influences. He likes the rich layout and uniqueness that they’ve come together to make. It’s rather fun. There are towers, court yards and gardens, a moat, granary, complex keep, small temple and crypt, walls and gates. He gives them extra points for the fact they even took the time to make the gingerbread windows look like stained glass using frosting and black liquorice.

Physio’s did several different gingerbread people doing different activities. He gets the impression that they are trying to make a statement about it. Particularly as so many of the people here try to avoid them as much as possible, whether that is a wise idea or not. He’s well aware that his significant others are some of the worst for that. He appreciates the fact that they didn’t really put faces on them, instead making them general so it could be practically anyone.

“Thank you,” he tells them as he adds their scores to the file.

Medical R&D created a medical lab out of their gingerbread and all the candies used. It even includes several gingerbread scientists and doctors working on projects. However, he marks them down for blatant insults in their gingerbread design, including the comment ‘idiotic agents and Q-Branch personal’ on one of the corner. He takes offense to that even though he has heard worse because this became an cross department event.

Linguistics has one of his favorites with a gingerbread library and studio. It reminds him of his uni days and all the time he spent within the libraries on campus. He can even make out carefully etched and carved words in a variety of languages, many of which he recognizes because he knows them, though not all of them. He almost gives them extra points for the fond memories. Instead he gives them the points for the details given to the project.

Research has the last table, and the head of the department glances between him and the currently covered project that has a white sheet over it.

“Is there a reason you’ve got it covered?” He queries as he stops by the table.

“Well,” Katya mutters, skin turning pink, “I lost the vote and am a bit embarrassed by our project.”

He arches a dark brow at her in question. Waiting for her to reveal it.

“Come on!” one of the others in the room almost shouts, “We want to know the results, and that doesn’t happen until he does your table unless you’re giving up.”

He glances over, glaring at the man from the trainees for being so rude. They didn’t have anyone else making snarky comments despite the fact they could have. He hasn’t been rushing as he studied each entry.

One of the others from Research, Melissa he thinks her name is, tugs the sheet off of the table revealing a massive gingerbread cookie with a mural painted onto it using candies and frosting. It’s quite remarkable. It shows a lot of different people in careful detail. It could be a painting, with the amount of care that had been applied. He’s not sure why she’s embarrassed by it.

His eyes slowly rake over it, taking in all the details. There is a picture of the two M’s side by side. Tanner and Eve flirting with each other. James and Alec with him between them, all close together, a look of almost longing on their faces as they look at him. There’s a group of his techs eating in the cafeteria. The R&D labs with examples of the past and present. So many little scenes, many he doesn’t know even if he recognizes the people within.

Taking his phone out, he snaps a picture of it before adding their scores to the chart. He then clicks on the sort button, letting the program figure out who got highest to the lowest. He’ll announce the winners in the morning.

For now, he glances around, spotting two of his minions and waving them over.

“Take pictures of everyone’s in detail,” he tells them.

“Alright,” Rosslyn agrees, grabbing the camera she always has on her belt.

“Got it boss,” Jake hums as he heads to his table to grab his camera.

“Why are you having them take pictures?” Alec asks as he appears at his side once more.

“So there won’t be arguing about who had what later,” he replies as he grins at his significant other.

“That makes sense,” James hums as he leans against Alec’s side and glances past their shared partner at him.

He smiles, shaking his head and muttering, “Oye you two.”


	2. The Results

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The results of the contest

All of the gingerbread projects are laid out on a buffet that can be eaten, along with a hodgepodge of foods from the many cultures represented as an ongoing buffet for the holiday, free to anyone who wishes to enjoy. Rather than make it a Christmas celebration, the kitchen staff has decided to try and show support of any winter holiday that they know about or have been informed about during a recent polling.

The guards know when the results come in, because close to everyone looks at their phones or tablets. The reactions are rather amusing, ranging from disappointed groaning to shouts of joy.

> To every participant in the MI6 Gingerbread Contest:  
> Congratulations on participating in this year’s contest. It was wonderful to see so many different designs and unique patterns. Each entry was judged on the following criteria:
> 
>   1. Originality
>   2. Design
>   3. Effort
>   4. Participation
> 

> 
> Now I realize that the first three sound like the same thing, but they are vastly different, as anyone in Q Branch R&D can tell you. All judgments are final.
> 
> Prizes are:
> 
>   * **First Place** : Five extra days of vacation per participant. Department wide lunch and dinner provided, family invitation allowed. Consideration for one department specialty project pending approval.
> 
>   * **Second Place** : Three extra days of vacation per participant. Department wide lunch provided, family invitation allowed. 
> 
>   * **Third Place** : Department wide lunch provided, family invitation allowed.
> 
>   * **Furthermore** : if a winner wishes to share their prize, they may do so.
> 
> 

> 
> Thank you all for participating in the contest.
> 
> The Winners are:
> 
>   * **First Place** : the Doctors for their outstanding castle and property
> 
>   * **Second Place** : the Research team for their MI6 mural
> 
>   * **Third Place:** the Analysts for their charts and graphs.
> 
> 

> 
> Happy Holidays to everyone, may your shifts go smoother than expected.
> 
> ~Q

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoy, results are based of reactions received both in the comments and in the various chats.

**Author's Note:**

> Publishing schedule, I will try & update one or two stories on Saturday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Plus the two advent sets for the month of December.
> 
> Tumblr about my writing [JaimiStoryTeller](http://jaimistoryteller.tumblr.com/) and twitter to post about drawing & writing @jaimist0
> 
> I love reviews, comments, and any other sort of communication, feel free to stop in to say hi, I particularly love comments on one shots and older stuff.


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